Town Manager Provides Update on Snow Emergency, Dispatch Center

Staff Report

In his regular report to the town council this week, Town Manager Tony Marino addressed a number of local issues, including the response to the recent snowstorm that left nearly two feet of snow across the region.

“The snowstorm has dominated most of our time over the last week, and the street cleanup continues,” Marino stated. “We continue to clean streets and add it to our Parking Ban update. Once we have completed all the streets, we will lift the parking ban.

“Special thanks to the DPW crew for all their hard work during the storm and the week afterwards,” the town manager continued. “And if the storm were not enough, they also had two water main leaks to repair last week as well.”

In other business, Marino said the Revere Street TIP project will continue with the work on switching over to the new traffic lights and installing solar controls on the streetlights so they go off during the daytime hours. The curb and concrete work will resume in the spring of 2026.

“The Fire Station demolition works continues as the Middle School building is down and the auditorium is up next,” Marino stated. “The design team continues to work on the building plans and met with the Fire Station building committee on Monday, February 2, 2026, to update them on the Schematic Design estimates and the overall budget costs.”

Marino also noted that the Health Insurance Subcommittee email has been sent out to all of the town’s unions, and that the administration anticipates meeting with this group in February.

“The purpose of this meeting is to review the GIC health plan offerings and identify any savings for both employees and the Town,” Marino said. “We have received initial projections for the upcoming year, indicating that our GIC health insurance increase will be between 7% and 10%. Once we receive the new health plan rates, our finance team will calculate Winthrop’s increase based on our plan mix.”

Finally, Marino informed the council that work continues on the new dispatch center for Metro North Regional Emergency Communications Center (MNRECC) at the McKinley School in Revere.

“The bids have come in for the construction work, and the total project cost is $43.5 Million dollars,” he stated. “The MNRECC portion of this project will be $19 Million dollars. MNRECC will apply for a bond for its portion of the project and then apply for grant funding from State 911 to cover the yearly principal and interest payments.”

The work and the new dispatch center will host dispatch services for Revere, Winthrop, and our recent addition of Chelsea.

“State 911 has assured us that they are committed to this project, and we anticipate long-term savings with the addition of Chelsea, and hopefully other communities, to our Regional Dispatch Center,” Marino said. At a recent meeting of the Revere City Council, Revere Mayor Patrick Keefe noted that the new dispatch center is being built with the ability to accommodate at least one additional community down the road.